Do you meditate?

I asked this question on Facebook the other day. The answers went from "I try" to "Every day" with a healthy range of various other responses in between. I also asked people to tell me about their practice. It's such an intimate question, but so many of my friends were willing to share. Here are just a few of the responses.

"My mind is constantly racing and if I don't meditate I am up till all hours of the night. I think of it a lot like a power nap. Necessary." -- Chris

"Get up as early as needed to make the time. I'm going on 2 months now of meditating 20 minutes a day. Usually lying down on the floor or an air mattress (helps me feel more floaty)...deep breathing with a gong playing on my phone every 60 seconds. Just helps to set my day right." -- Brad

"I do but not as regularly as I think I should. But when I'm really stressed I close my eyes and focus on my breath for a few minutes to center and calm myself." -- Debra

"Yes, I do several different things - mostly I walk." -- Star

"Yeah. Happier and less angry when I do it consistently. I describe it as 'softer'." -- Kate

"I did when I was trying to get pregnant and was basically standing on my head against a wall for a half hour. (LOL) I miss it and just started researching it again today." -- Natalie

"Praying is my meditation." -- Denise

There's a reason people feel less stress, or "softer" when meditating regularly. Meditation is all about here and now. It takes a while to get there, but with practice, you come to a place of where you can clear your mind of all the check lists and worries that rattle around in your head all day.

Meditation is not as woo woo as you might think. The feeling of lightness and lowered anxiety is actually very scientific. During meditation, your mind goes into recovery mode, much like an athlete taking a recovery day between training days.

My Meditation Practice

I typically meditate in the morning. Not all mornings. Some days, I roll out of bed and forget to take that quiet time before starting my day. Most mornings, though, I do force myself to get into a quiet space.

Sleep isn't always a time of rest for me. Some nights, I experience the deepest, soundest sleep. Other nights, I toss and turn with worries over things that haven't even happened yet. It's not unusual for me to get out of bed in the middle of the night to do a headstand. Don't ask me why, but concentrating on that makes the hamster in my brain stop spinning on the wheel.

Here's the thing... it's a PRACTICE. As in, not perfect. If we slip and miss a day, there's no need to beat ourselves up. And you don't have to know much to get started either. So now that we all understand that you don't have to be perfect, here are my imperfect tips for starting your meditation practice.

5 Tips to Start a Meditation Practice

1 - Choose a convenient time: Don't set yourself up for failure by choosing a time that will cause friction in your day. Pick a time that you know will be easy for you. It might be morning, evening, or when the kids go down for a nap in the afternoon. For me, the moment I get out of bed is the best time. Once I open my bedroom door and walk out into the hallway, it's on. The dog has to be walked and fed, the kids need to get up, get dressed, and have breakfast. Then we all jump on our computers and get to work. There's no down time until late in the evening. WIthout that time of meditation in the morning, I'm a wreck all day.

2 - Choose a quiet place: I'm fortunate enough to live close to a freeway with a yard that backs up to three neighbors that are always doing some kind of construction on their properties. It's awesome. Oh wait... NO IT'S NOT!!! It's rather noisy in my yard in the morning, but I like to be out on the patio in the fresh air, so I use these handy little things called "ear plugs" to give me the quiet that my neighbors won't. You might be lucky enough to have a naturally quiet spot, but if not, I highly recommend a little foam in your noise holes.

3 - Start with a few warm ups: Before I get into a seated position, I do a little stretching. I usually start with some sun salutations. I reach my hands to the sky and folding over, allow my head and arms to hang freely until my body forgets it's too tight to bend. I walk my legs back into a downward dog, then plank, chataranga, cobra, back to a downward dog, and hopping my feet back between my hands, I end as I began, this time with a more comfortable foldover. Arms back to the sky for one final stretch and I'm ready to take a seat on my blanket.

4 - Sit comfortably: You can sit on a yoga mat, but I prefer to sit on a folded beach blanket. It feels like I'm sitting on a cloud and my mind isn't thinking about any lingering discomfort I might be feeling in my hips or back. You don't need a big beach blanket to start. You can use a folded towel, or if you don't wake up with the little aches and pains of getting older (you lucky little minx), you can just sit on a yoga mat. Legs can be criss-cross or butterfly (palms of your feet touching each other), wrists resting gently on your knees.

5 - Breathe: This is where the magic happens. Breathe deeply. Think about your breathing. Picture the air going in and out of your lungs. Let the cool morning air fill you up. If you're into visulazation, you can picture clean blue air going in and filling your body and exhaling all of your worries in the form of whatever color you didn't like in the Crayola box. Maze is a good one. That color was horrendous. Anyway... just breathe. If your mind starts to wander to your list of to-do's, clear the thought away and focus once again on your breathing. Clearing your mind will feel impossible at first, but eventually, you'll get used to it and even yearn for that space.

If you're not so sure you can do this meditation thing without a little more help, Gaiam TV has a Beginner's Guide to Meditation with guided practices to help you get into, well, your practice. It's a subscription based site, but right now, they're offering a trial month for 99 cents. I think your sanity is worth it.

Meditation keeps me sane and keeps the people in my life safe from my evil twin, Aspertame. And from the responses I got to my question on Facebook, it keeps a lot of my friends sane, too. If you're ready to reclaim a little sanity in your life, look into starting a meditation practice.

Namaste!

Psst... This is a sponsored opportunity that I chose because it aligns with my life.

For the most part, I haven't been making the conference rounds over the last few years. I took a super quick road trip up to San Francisco for BlogHerPro in December and it was great to connect with people I hadn't seen in such a long time. It reminded me that conferences are about more than the latest digital trends and glad-handing brands.

They're about connecting.

I attended Mom 2.0 a couple of years ago when it was here in Southern California and it quickly became my favorite. The size, the workshops, the parties... all good stuff. So when the opportunity to buy someone's Mom 2.0 ticket in Scottsdale came up, I grabbed it.

Scottsdale is one of my favorite road trip getaways. It boasts the famous "dry heat" that I love and the rugged landscape is an awesome and beautiful backdrop for the resorts that dot the landscape. The drive out from San Diego is about six hours, which isn't really too long. It's a quiet drive and the bonus is the incredible desert scenery you get to drive through.

My plan was to rent a car as Mr. Jones will need the Land Cruiser to tote the kids around while I'm gone. But at the last minute, I saw another blogger and app creator post that she would be driving out from San Diego, so I messaged her to see if she would accept my offer of snacks and gas money for a ride out and back. She and her business partner agreed to let me be a third, so yay!

There's a LOT of chatter about what to wear. I'm not so worried about that as I just received two Stitch Fix boxes in the last couple of months. Plus, I plan on spending some quality time at the pool.

I mean...

But I can't float the WHOLE time, so I need to make sure to pack the essentials: a little black dress, a pair of white jeans and a pair of dark denim jeans, some tops, yoga and running clothes, comfy shoes for walking the grounds, and wedges for the rest of the time.

Plus a few items that I'm not even going to think about leaving home without.

Sunforgettable Mineral Sunscreen Brush by ColoreScience

I recently switched up my daily makeup routine and have been using ColoreScience products. (Write up coming soon.) One of the products stays neatly tucked in whatever bag I'm carrying for easy re-application. It's a mineral powder that is completely water resistant. I know this to be true because I tested it with my own hands. I'm not a big fan of powders, but this one is so light and has the added feature of being a broad-spectrum sunscreen. I love my pool time, but I don't head out into the sun without serious skin protection.

Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus

The left side of this scarf was sprayed with Downy Wrinkle Releaser Plus. I think I gave it maybe four to six sprays and then tugged a little at it, as per the instructions on the bottle. In less than a minute, the wrinkles were gone. I hate ironing when I travel, but especially when I'm at a resort in Spa Town. Nothing ruins the mood like a hot iron. The Wrinkle Releaser is also great for removing static and has a nice clean scent that is perfect for freshening up clothes that have been packed away in a suitcase or in the back of your closet waiting for another road trip. And bonus! It comes in a convenient 3oz. travel size, perfect for popping into the carry-on.

RazorMax Multi Device Portable Charger

What's worse than no Wi-Fi? Running out of juice. And it ALWAYS seems to happen when you need it most, doesn't it? Most conferences have a charging station somewhere, as Mom 2.0 has set up, but it's not always convenient to get away from the keynotes and breakout sessions. A portable charger is a must for a blogging conference goer. but if you're like me, you've got more than one device going at a time, so not just any charger will do. That's why I carry the RazorMax from myCharge.com. It keeps multiple devices charged at the same time and packs 27 hours of recharge life. If you don't need both ports, you can make a new best friend at the conference and share with someone else that's running out of juice.

I'll be tweeting nuggets of wisdom from Scottsdale, as will all the other attendees. Make sure to follow along with me on Twitter! Are you going to be at Mom 2.0? Find me and say hi! If I'm not in one of the sessions, I'll be floating in the pool!

The skies were still dark when we woke up on Easter Sunday. Mr. Jones had to be up in LA early for his next tour, so he was already in his uniform when I rolled out of bed to rouse the kids. It didn't take much to wake them. I just had to say, "Come on you guys... we need to get there before the crowd."

We all knew the kind of crowd that gathers wherever Bethany Hamilton goes. We didn't want to miss out on seeing her again. I was still struggling with the request we got from our pastor. He asked regular attenders to park at the school down the street, go to the first or last service, and to sit in the overflow section in the loft. The parking and service times were not a big deal, but watching a live stream versus being in the sanctuary to see Bethany live... that was a tough one.

Mr. Jones' Uber car came to pick him up around 6:15. He kissed us goodbye as we all headed out the door; him to the train and us to church. Later at church, a friend would say, "But it's a holiday! Doesn't he get holidays?" I had to remind him that planes fly every day. Besides... we're used to it. Being married to a pilot means that we may not always get to spend the holidays together, but we got to see him for a moment before he left for the week.

We watched the sun rise as we drove up and over the hill towards the church. I still hadn't decided if we were going to ignore the request and go into the sanctuary. I expected to see tons of cars at the overflow parking lot, but we were one of the first ones to arrive. On the shuttle bus that was to take us up to the church, I asked the other adults what they were going to do. They all said they'd be watching the live stream from the loft.

Damn it. No enablers on the bus.

We got up to the church and saw that there was no line. There were only volunteers running around working. I found my friend that's in charge of the children's programs and asked how we could help before heading in to the service. While we filled snack cups with goldfish and put paint on paper plates, the crowd began to arrive. We watched them as they headed in; a trickle at first, and then a flood. We finished up helping to set up the classroom and went out to figure out where we'd be sitting. My daughter was pleading to go into the sanctuary. I hemmed and hawed and then finally said, "Okay, whatever... let's just go in." We walked up to the doors just as the Executive Pastor shut them and said,

"The sanctuary is full."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

So we walked up to the loft with the overflow crowed. I thought, well, maybe this is how it should go. We should let others go before us. We should be givers. We should, we should, we should... and then I just started regretting not going in. We sat at the front of the room where the live broadcast was. As expected, it wasn't the same.

I started overnoodling our situation. We had brunch reservations at 12:30, so if we were going to go to a later service to see Bethany live, we had to ignore not only one but TWO requests made of regulars. If we were going to go into the sanctuary, we'd have to go to one of the two middle services. After too much hand-wringing, I leaned over to my daughter and told my plan. She would leave half way through the live stream to get in line. I could leave during the final song, grab my son, and meet her in line. When it came time for her to leave, her anxiety took over for a second and she froze. CRAP! When this kid freezes, it's all over! I said,

"It's Bethany!"

She unfroze and made her way out to get in line. When it came my turn to leave, I had two thoughts: A) I hope she's not at the end of the two hour long line, and B) I hope our pastor doesn't see us.

When I walked out, I saw that she had somehow managed to get to the front door. There wasn't a line, but more of a mostly patient crowd gathered at the doors. Somehow, I managed to find my son without any trouble. He had just walked out of his class as I was walking down from the loft. We both met up with my daughter and found other regular attendees that were ignoring the polite requests of the staff, too.

Enablers, YAY!

The doors opened and after allowing the first service crowd to get out, my daughter and a couple of her girlfriends wiggled in and bolted straight to the front row. My son and I found a couple of seats right behind her. We sat just a few feet away from the stage where Bethany was going to be.

The sanctuary was buzzing with excitement.

We didn't get to meet her. She didn't autograph any pictures or books. We didn't get to take a selfie with her. But we did get to see her live and listen to her talk about overcoming the challenges of life. Her indomitable spirit is simply amazing. Who loses an arm to a shark attack and knows with all her being that it's for a higher purpose? I looked over at my daughter who was looking up at her in quiet admiration. It took a few years, but she got to see her role model in person.

Finally.

Bethany's family was also in attendance. Seated just a few chairs over from us was her husband. The two have been married for just under two years and are expecting a baby in the next couple of months. They talked about how they met and how they respected each other's desire to remain pure before marriage. They also talked about their appearance on the Amazing Race and how they both loved on each other more on their tougher challenges. They have each other's backs in every way.

It was a great message for my kids to hear and I think it had a greater impact because they got to see Bethany speak those words right in front of them. Before they left the stage, Pastor Jason prayed for them and the safety of their future child. I spent the rest of the service avoiding eye contact with him, which was hard to do, considering we were sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. I was happy that my kids got to be there to see Bethany in the flesh... but I was still feeling guilty about ignoring the requests.

The things you do for your kids...

On our way out, my son said something I had been thinking: "All this time we've been chasing Bethany, and we ended up seeing her at our own church." It's a lot like life, isn't it? You can go all over the world looking for something only to find it right back at home. My daughter got to meet her role model at the very same spot she first learned her story.

It was a great lesson for all of us.

Oh! And we made it to brunch on time... just the three of us. I was bummed that Mr. Jones wasn't there and that my mom decided she still needed to do some more obsessive cleaning before her cousin came into town for vacation. But before we were even half way through our meal, my mom showed up to sit with us and say hi to the kids. Luckily, we had an extra seat. Then, out of nowhere, I see a man in a pilot's uniform that looked strikingly similar to Mr. Jones. It WAS Mr. Jones! He had flown into Carlsbad and had a few hours to spare before taking passengers on to the next city. We ended up with a crowded but cozy table filled with love and a great new tale to add to our family history.

We have waited to see Bethany Hamilton for countless hours over the last several years.

My daughter became a huge fan of Bethany's in the beginning of fifth grade when she read her story, Soul Surfer. Our church, Daybreak was going to be showing the movie, so in preparation, we bought the book for Hannah to read.

Bethany Hamilton, if you don't know who she is, was a young girl in Hawaii looking forward to a life as a pro surfer when she was attacked by a shark and lost her left arm. The movie shows news clips of her story that I clearly remembered seeing. At the time, I thought how great it was that this little girl's story was being told and how inspiring she was for people of all ages, but later, learning how she put her faith and trust in God, believing that even the shark attack had a greater purpose... well, that just blew me away.

How could anyone that young just know, I wondered. I still struggle to find purpose and meaning in everything in my life. Trying to tie up the loose ends with a neat bow of it-was-meant-to-be- or there-has-to-be-a-reason. The messiness and unpredictability of life leaves me feeling like a ping pong ball, bouncing between the hard paddles of surrender and control. I know I should live in surrender, but that can be a very scary place. Yet it's in the moments that I surrender control when all the good stuff happens. I know this... and still I struggle.

My daughter dove into the book with so much interest. She identified with young Bethany in the book as they had a few things in common (church, homeschool, living by the beach). Every few chapters, Hannah would pop out of her room or the big climbing tree in the yard to tell me about Bethany's attack, or her state of mind, or how her family was supporting her. When she finished reading her story, she came to me and said,

"Bethany Hamilton is my role model."

"Oh thank GOD," I thought.

My role models were drug-addicted, over-sexed rebels in music and film. The wilder, the better. But looking back at all I've gone through in life, I always hope and pray that my kids will choose better people to place on pedestals. I was more than relieved that Hannah chose someone so resilient and faithful as Bethany Hamilton to admire.

I never thought meeting her would become our obsession.

The first time we waited to see her was in 2011 at a church about two hours away from home. Hannah had subscribed to Bethany's email list that gave updates on where she would be speaking and possibly signing autographs. We got an early start and headed to the church thinking we'd have plenty of time to park and get a seat to see Bethany speak. We drove up to a two mile long line of people waiting to see her.

After a couple of hours of waiting, we got to the church entrance and were told that they had just filled up, but we could watch the service on monitors set up outside. My daughter was crushed. We tried our best to watch outside, but the glare of the sun on the screens and the lack of sound made it nearly impossible. Then, a man opened the doors to the church lobby and said they had room for a few more. I remember shoving my daughter in. She looked so scared, but I just reassured her that she would be okay on her own. Besides, she was going to see Bethany! The gentleman letting everyone in looked at me and said something to the effect of "We'll let you both squeeze in."

WE WERE SO EXCITED... until we saw that he was only letting us in to see the live broadcast on the monitors in the lobby. It was an improvement, but it was still not Bethany in the flesh. Still... her message was uplifiting and at least we got THAT close.

The next time we went to see Bethany was at the 2013 Super Girl Surf Pro at the Oceanside Pier. Although we lived in Oceanside before and do again, at the time, we were living in Mexico. We still made the trek up to try to meet Bethany. We got to see her surf and got to a spot close to where she entered the water. It was pretty exciting, but not as exciting, we thought, as meeting her later that day at her autograph signing.

If you squint really hard, you can see Bethany getting up on her board at the crest of the wave.

We remembered the church line, so we got there a couple of hours before she was supposed to start her meet-and-greet. I figured that would be plenty of time. What I didn't factor in was how much Bethany had grown in popularity and how many more young girls had made her their role model. The line went from her booth on the sand, down the strand a few yards, then up both ramps of the pier entrance, and down the street. A friend of ours was walking past us with her daughters who had just met her and taken pictures with her. The mom was thrilled, but told us they lined up first thing in the morning. She got crazy eyes when she said, "We waited EIGHT HOURS!"

Holy schmitt...

We tried not to lose heart and were lifted up with a little Shave Ice from Mr. Jones and The Boy.

And then the line started moving... WOO HOO!!! We didn't realize it was because people were being given the sad news. Eventually, one of the organizers came up to us and told us the sad truth. There was no way we were going to get to see her that day. Standing in line was futile. Again, my daughter was crushed. We went back down to the sand to see if we could catch a glimpse of her as she walked away. We found a little spot that was roped off. In the blink of an eye, she walked out of the tent and breezed past us to an awaiting car. It wasn't much, but it was the closest we'd been to her yet.

Then there was the time Bethany was in town for a Cobian event at a local surf shop. We drove by, saw the line, and knew. We weren't going to see Bethany then either.

A few weeks ago at church, our pastor made an announcement I never thought I'd hear. We were going to be starting a new series on Easter called Unbroken. They would be inviting a special guest to kick off the series. My mind went straight to someone in the military, probably because of the movie of the same name. But then he started describing a female who had survived an attack. I started making some excited OH OH OH sounds. My friend Marlena looked up from the stage and started giggling at me. Then he said it.

BETHANY HAMILTON WOULD BE COMING TO DAYBREAK CHURCH.

I started clapping and shaking and trying really hard not to scream! I couldn't believe it! ALL THIS TIME and we were finally going to see her at OUR church! I looked over and saw my daughter walking in to be baptized. She saw me in the stands and we both gave each other a huge smile that we both knew to mean: "Can you believe it?" It was an exciting moment.

But that excitement gave way to something even better. I ran down to the front of the service and luckily found a free seat in the front to watch my daughter declare her belief in Jesus Christ. As she entered the water, I began shaking and crying. I was just barely able to capture the moment, but I did.

I'm so glad my little Hannah is making good life decisions at such a young age. She has chosen good people to model her life after and is, except for her taste in music and comedy, nothing like her mother was at that age. She's bound to become a role model to other girls someday.

Many, many, many, MANY Springs ago, I got my grandma to give me a ride to a replica of Independence Hall where I filled out an application and went from station to station to talk to perfect strangers about how capable I was to join them. I was applying for a summer job at Knott's Berry Farm.

I got the job.

Turns out, it's not that hard to get a seasonal job at an amusement park. That didn't squash my excitement. I was going to work at one of my favorite places AND I was going to get to ride roller coasters any time I wanted to! Well... in between making change and putting toys back on shelves in the Camp Snoopy Toy Store.

During my time as an employee at Knott's Berry Farm, I learned a lot about Walter and Cordelia Knott and their little berry farm turned amusement park. And I learned to truly appreciate the Boysenberry, the berry that Mr. Knott grew commercially, especially on long night shifts when I spread some boysenberry preserves on hot biscuits. But as the summer wore on, I started feeling a sense of gratitude for that humble berry and The Knott Family. Had it not been for their little farm, this would just be another city block with a mini mall or something far less interesting than an amusement park on it.

Now it's Spring once again, and hundreds of kids are starting their fun new seasonal job. They're probably all excited to ride roller coasters on their breaks, and they'll definitely have a lot of fun and make all kinds of new friends, but by the end of the season, they'll also have a new favorite food:

The Boysenberry.

And along with the kids starting their new seasonal jobs, Spring brings another great Knott's tradition... The Boysenberry Festival. Yes, it's time to celebrate Knott’s delicious roots during the 16-day festival with a scrumptious lineup of Boysenberry food, plus the limited time return of the classic Bear-y Tales characters in a pie making kitchen, entertainment, and lots more!

The popular smokey and sweet Boysenberry Barbecue Sauce is back and will be playing a big part on this year's menu. Tossed with chicken wings, dripped on barbecue chicken sandwiches, or glazed on ribs, you'll be licking your fingers and lining up to buy a bottle or three.

Boysenberry Barbecue Chicken Sandwich on a Boysenberry roll with Boysenberry Ketchup and Boysenberry Relish. I was licking my plate after devouring this one.

And of course, there will be plenty of scrumptious sweets featuring the Boysenberry: Boysenberry Mousse, Boysenberry Cotton Candy, Boysenberry Flautas, BoysenberryPie, and the most anticipated sweet treat this Boysenberry season... the Fun Bun!

My favorites: Flautas and Fun Bun! The Boysenberry Flauta is Boysenberry preserves rolled in a flour tortilla and lightly fried. The Fun Bun (boysenberry ring layers in a warm bun, smothered in an ooey gooey Boysenberry topping, and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. The fun bun is deceptively huge. You'll want to share it with one or two other people.

After a full day of fun, you might be too tired to stop as you walk out to the parking lot to find your car. Do yourself a favor... stop anyway! You don't want to leave without popping in to the Country Store to pick up some Boysenberry Gummi Bears, Boysenberry Honey, Boysenberry Taffy, and Boysenberry Chocolate. And of course... don't forget that smokey Boysenberry Barbecue Sauce.